ZnO nanowire nucleation mechanism and initial stages of nanowire growth using the carbothermal reduction technique are studied confirming the involvement of the catalyst at the tip in the growth process. Role of the Au catalyst is further confirmed when the tapering observed in the nanowires can be explained by the change in the shape of the catalyst causing a variation of the contact area at t...

Gold catalysts supported on γ-Al2O3 (Au/γ-Al2O3) were prepared by deposition-precipitation of aqueous HAuCl4 and, alternatively, by deposition of Au(CH3)2(acac) from pentane solution. The samples were characterized by in situ XANES and temperature-programmed reduction and by their performance as CO oxidation catalysts at room temperature. The Au was found to be present as Au(III) in both as-pre...

Pd−Au bimetallic catalysts have shown promising performance in numerous reactions that involve hydrogen. Fundamental studies of hydrogen interactions with Pd−Au surfaces could provide useful insights into the reaction mechanisms over Pd−Au catalysts, which may, in turn, guide future catalyst design. In this study, the interactions of hydrogen (i.e., adsorption, absorption, diffusion, and desorp...

A novel and facile strategy has been successfully developed to synthesize uniform gold@titanium dioxide octahedral nanocages (Au@TiO2), which have a well-defined double-shelled structure with Au as the internal shell and TiO2 as the external shell. The unique Au@TiO2 double-shelled octahedral nanocages were elaborately fabricated by a Cu2O-templated strategy combining with spatially confined ga...

Key descriptors in hydrogenation catalysis are the nature of the active sites for H2 activation and the adsorption strength of H atoms to the surface. Using atomically resolved model systems of dilute Pd-Au surface alloys and density functional theory calculations, we determine key aspects of H2 activation, diffusion, and desorption. Pd monomers in a Au(111) surface catalyze the dissociative ad...

The water-gas shift (WGS) reaction rate per total mole of Au under 7% CO, 8.5% CO(2), 22% H(2)O, and 37% H(2) at 1 atm for Au/Al(2)O(3) catalysts at 180 °C and Au/TiO(2) catalysts at 120 °C varies with the number average Au particle size (d) as d(-2.2±0.2) and d(-2.7±0.1), respectively. The use of nonporous and crystalline, model Al(2)O(3) and TiO(2) supports allowed the imaging of the active c...

Kinetic studies of vinyl acetate (VA) synthesis were carried out for Pd (1.0 wt%)/SiO2 and Pd (1.0 wt%)–Au (0.5 wt%)/SiO2 catalysts, with highly dispersed metal particles (Pd and Pd–Au) characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy–energy dispersive spectroscopy (TEM-EDS). The kinetics of the related CO oxidation reaction were also explored. The kinetics of VA synthesi...

We demonstrated that platinum (Pt) oxygen-reduction fuel-cell electrocatalysts can be stabilized against dissolution under potential cycling regimes (a continuing problem in vehicle applications) by modifying Pt nanoparticles with gold (Au) clusters. This behavior was observed under the oxidizing conditions of the O2 reduction reaction and potential cycling between 0.6 and 1.1 volts in over 30,...